Sunday, October 30, 2011

Hello, everyone! The North American Review is about to launch our new podcast — watch for an announcement here.

Anyway, we needed some theme music, so I wrote a song I'm calling "Italian Bicycle" for flute, guitar, bass, and drums. We'll be recording this song soon with NAR editors Kim Groninga, Vince Gotera, Jeremy Schraffenberger, and Grant Tracey playing the instruments named above, respectively.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek ... click on the image below and then, after the sheet music loads, click on the orange triangle at the bottom left.

I'll let you know when the podcast is available online. Then you can hear the song played by real musicians — or human ones, that is — not the teensy electronic ghosts living inside your machine, playing their little ghost flutes and whatnot.

Please leave me a comment below. I'd really like to know what you think. Thanks! And happy halloween tomorrow.

Yes, Finale is similar concept, though I own a full version of the software so it's on my computer. I usually export a wav file and then use Sound Forge to convert it to an MP3. Another great feature of Finale is you can scan sheet music into the program. Also you can compose with a MIDI keyboard, you play, it writes the sheet music (though that’s not my process). I also use Sound Forge for recording vocal performances and the voice students I teach.

This is a great theme song and perfect title. You use accidentals to accent so well. Thanks for directing me here. I’ll have to listen to it played on the podcasts. Do you have other compositions on Noteflight?

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And on the Bass ...

I write poems and stories. Also the occasional creative nonfiction. And I edit the North American Review, the longest-lived literary magazine in the US. I am a Professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa, where I teach creative writing and literature.

I play bass guitar and lead guitar; I also love to bang on the drums! And if you couldn't already tell from the color scheme around here, my favorite color is blue, in all its dynamic shades and flavors: cobalt, electric, royal, robin's-egg, navy, cerulean, teal, indigo, sky.